OKLAHOMA CITY, Sporting Alert – The Oklahoma City Thunder will look to rebound from their defeat to the Indiana Pacers the last time out when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. This game will be streaming live on ESPN3 and tip-off is at 3:30 ET.
Oklahoma City was beaten 101-98 at home by the Pacers on Friday night, despite Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combining to score 54 points.
Cleveland, in the meantime, is coming off a 106-95 victory over the Chicago Bulls two days ago, and LeBron James and company will seek to extend their good form with another victory on the road.
In the defeat to Indiana, Durant collected 31 points and eight rebounds and his partner in crime, Russell Westbrook added 23 points and a career-high 18 assists for the Thunder (40-15), who remain the top team in the Northwest division, but trail the Golden State Warriors by 9 1/2 games in the Western Conference standings.
Entering this game, Oklahoma City is averaging 109.9 points per game, which is second in the NBA this season, and allowing 101.9.
Westbrook, who many pundits believe has taken over from Durant as the go-to-man for the Thunder, is averaging 24.1 points, 10.1 assists, 7.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.
The All-Star point guard has collected five double-doubles in six outings in the NBA already this month, while shooting 50.5 percent, and averages 23.8 points and 12.2 assists per contest in February.
Last time against the Cavaliers, Westbrook finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds in a 104-100 defeat on Dec. 17.
The Cavaliers (39-14), meanwhile, travel to Oklahoma City on a four-game winning streak, with three of those four wins coming against Western Conference outfits.
James, who leads the team in all the major areas, is averaging 25 points, 6.6 assists, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 rebounds per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the floor this campaign.
The four-time MVP has scored 20 or more points in 13 straight games, and is averaging 25.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game in February.
His supporting cast has been impressive this month as well, with one of the standouts, point guards Kyrie Irving, who is averaging 19 points per game this season — averaging 26.4 this month.
Elsewhere on Sunday, the San Antonio Spurs (46-9) travel to face the Pheonix Suns (14-41) at Talking Stick Resort Arena, Boston Celtics (32-24) meet the Denver Nuggets (22-33) and the Memphis Grizzlies (32-22) tackle the Toronto Raptors (35-18) at Air Canada Centre.
NBA Schedule and Live TV/Streaming
Sunday, February 21 – Via ESPN.com
New Orleans at Detroit 3:30 PM FSN FSDT
Cleveland at Oklahoma City 3:30 PM ABC/ESPN3/ WatchESPN
Boston at Denver 5:00 PM CSNN ALT
San Antonio at Phoenix 5:00 PM FSSW FSAZ
Charlotte at Brooklyn 6:00 PM YES
Indiana at Orlando 6:00 PM FSMW FSFL
Memphis at Toronto 6:00 PM TSN
Philadelphia at Dallas 7:00 PM CSN FSSW
Los Angeles at Chicago 8:00 PM ESPN/WatchESPN TWC SN WGN
Utah at Portland 9:00 PM ROOT CSNN
